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The SDFHS Blog

Tracking down John Deacon – basketmaker in Bristol

Posted on 13th May 2015

Barbara Elsmore is researching the Deacon family of basketmakers and here describes how enlisting the help of other SDFHS members helped her to track down a missing son On Saturday 16 May Barbara will be talking in Sherborne about basketmaking as an occupation in the first of our occasional series of events What did your Ancestors Do The other speaker will be John Damon on 'Families in the Utilities': full details I have just read Patricia Spencer's excellent article in the latest Greenwood... more

Preview of the May ‘Greenwood Tree’

Posted on 3rd May 2015

We have experienced a little local difficulty with the production of the May edition of The Greenwood Tree, and we apologise if its delivery is slightly later than usual The printers we have used for over 20 years, FWB Printing Ltd of Wincanton, has ceased trading, and been replaced with a new company, Aurora We wish them success and hope to continue with them the excellent collaboration which we had with FWB The centenary of the outbreak of the First World War was rightly given great... more

The US Civil War

Posted on 14th April 2015

2015 marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the end of the US Civil War and to commemorate this we had four talks at our Family History Centre in Sherborne on Saturday 11 April The event was the inspiration of our Librarian Emeritus, Robin Ansell, who has had an almost life-long interest in the War and who brought along part of his extensive collection of books and memorabilia Fittingly Robin was the... more

William Rashley: was he a scoundrel?

Posted on 7th April 2015

Jane Harrington, a member of the SDFHS, tells the story of her great grandfather and the unanswered questions about his life and marriage My great grandfather, William John Rashley, born in Burton Bradstock in 1861, died quite young We knew that because my mother had never met him and that’s what she’s been told She thought she’d been told that, anyway She’d certainly never heard him talked about Her own mother, Annie Laura, had lived with a maternal aunt and uncle, Laura and... more

Making Baskets for Saddlers

Posted on 22nd February 2015

While researching items in Sherborne Museum for a forthcoming exhibition on basketmaking I came across a photograph, donated by a member of the Deacon family, who made baskets here in Sherborne and in the nearby village of Nether Compton over four generations The photograph says on the back 'Our Workshop and the baskets we are making for Saddlers' If you look closely at this photo, I am sure you will find this as exciting as I do because you can see that the photographer has clearly set up all... more

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